Background
Marlo M., the father of minor D.W.M., petitioned to change the child’s first name. After a hearing, the Circuit Court of Cook County denied the petition, finding that Marlo had not established that respondent Donna W. received notice of the petition or consented to the proposed change.
The circuit court also found that the name change was not in D.W.M.’s best interest for reasons stated on the record. Marlo appealed, but Donna did not appear in the appellate proceedings, so the appellate court considered the common-law record and Marlo’s brief alone.
The Court’s Holding
The appellate court affirmed. Illinois law permits a child’s name to be changed only upon clear and convincing evidence that the change is necessary to serve the child’s best interest, and a trial court’s ruling on such a request is reviewed under the manifest-weight-of-the-evidence standard.
Marlo did not include a transcript or bystander’s report from the hearing. Without a record of the evidence and reasoning presented there, the appellate court could not determine that the circuit court should have reached the opposite result. It therefore presumed that the denial conformed to the law and had a sufficient factual basis.
Key Takeaways
- A parent seeking to change a child’s name must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the change is necessary to serve the child’s best interest.
- An appellant bears the burden of supplying a record sufficiently complete to support the claimed error.
- When the record omits the hearing transcript or an authorized substitute, the reviewing court presumes the trial court’s order was legally and factually supported.
Why It Matters
The order underscores that appellate review depends on the record, particularly when the challenged decision turns on evidence presented at a hearing. Even when an appellee files no brief, the appellant must provide the materials needed to demonstrate reversible error.
The decision is an unpublished order under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedential except in the limited circumstances permitted by Rule 23(e)(1).